Indy pledge pot rakes in £200,000 in first 24 hours of launch

As Sturgeon declared her push for a second independence referendum, the opposing sides begin to marshal funds

A PRO-YES REFERENDUM fundraising website launched yesterday (Monday 13 March) has raised hundreds of thousands in its first few hours of going live.

The site was revealed after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement at Bute House, Edinburgh that she would seek confirmation from Holyrood next week for a second Scottish independence referendum.

Called ref.scot its aim is to raise £1m in 100 days and has already reached nearly 200,000 in its first few days.

It asks: “What kind of Scotland do we want to be?” and calls on members of the public to sign a pledge and donate funds. It also carries and encourages the use of the hashtag #scotref as the SNP leadership is keen not to use the previosuly concieved #indyref2 hashtag. This they hope will stop voters or supporters thinking that #Scotref will be a re-run of the 2014 independence referendum.

The page states: “Scotland will have a choice between a Tory-run Brexit Britain, or taking control of our own future, with independence.”

Scottish Labour in response to the launched project made an appeal for their own campaign to stop a referendum while simultaneously accepting that there was little they could do to stop one.

It’s website called togetherstronger.scot asks people to sign up to pledge the reverse of the ref.scot site and stop a second referendum.

Kezia Dugdale responded to the announcement of the Scottish Government looking for a Section 30 order from Westminister as seeking “grievance and division.”

In a very similar retort the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “Nicola Sturgeon has today given up acting as First Minister for all of Scotland. People have said time and again they do not want to go back to the division of a second referendum.

According to the #Scotref web page bottom banner, it was set up by Peter Murrell party chief of the SNP and the husband of Nicola Sturgeon. The url license was purchased on March 2 and is due to expire on the same month the following year.

Observers in the Labour party have noted that there is a fear of being outspent in a second referendum as the party’s finances are in dire condition. Donors in Scotland and England are withdrawing funds or are failing to maintain cash flows into the party’s finances.

The Scottish Conservatives have not confirmed or denied of any fundraising projects afoot to counter the SNP at the present.